Probably several times since “positive thinking” is very popular these days and has been for a while now. Bestsellers like “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill, “As a Man Thinketh” by James Allen, and “Battlefield of the Mind” by Joyce Meyer have hipped us to the importance of thinking the right things.

But what does that look like?

Well, instead of thinking ‘I stink at push ups’, we’re taught to think, ‘I’m getting stronger and stronger every day!”. Instead of thinking ‘I screwed up on my diet yesterday”, we should think ‘I had a rough day but I’m okay and I’m on my way!’ And it makes sense.​What we believe determines what we think and how we think often determines how we feel about life and what actions we take. If we believe that we can lose weight and get in shape, start a successful business, move up the corporate ladder, have an amazing marriage, or build a thriving ministry, it’s so much more likely to happen than if we believe that we can’t.

I believe strongly in positive thinking. In fact, I challenge my clients to join me in saying 265 Point’s Morning Mantra each morning and encourage them to meditate on a power thought rooted in scripture throughout the week.

Here’s the thing….

The problem with positive thinking is that even if we think positive thoughts, we will continue to stay stuck until the underlying negative thoughts perpetuated by our inner critic are addressed. Until those negative thoughts are addressed, we are prone to self-sabotage and undermine our success.

You see, it’s true that you’re more likely to succeed if you think positive thoughts, but if deep down a part of you still believes that you can’t pursue the dream that God has called you to pursue, and you just keep trying to flood your mind with the positive without ever addressing the negative, you’re setting yourself up to fail.

Here’s what I suggest you do instead…

Stop stuffing the negative thoughts. Acknowledge them, heck even embrace them. Resist the temptation to medicate those feeling with food, drugs, work, alcohol or ready-made distractions. God gave us feelings for a reason. Though unpleasant to experience, negative feelings and emotions are designed to point to the areas of our lives that need healing and require change. So instead of trying to avoid or medicate negative feelings, ask yourself, ‘what’s really going on here’, ‘where did this thought come from?” and what am I really afraid of?’

The truth is that every unhealthy habit we have is rooted in fear…EVERY ONE.

Fear of failure

Fear of success

Fear of vulnerability

Fear of pain

Fear of commitment

Fear of the unknown

Fear of change

Fear of the future

We’re all afraid of something and it is that fear that often takes us places we didn’t really want to go, keeps us longer than we intended to stay and costs us more than we intended to pay. Fear can really stop us from taking that bold step of faith that we need to take.

Are you letting fear stand in your way?

Here’s what fear sounds like when it comes to change:

I don’t have the time

I don’t have the money

I have too much on my plate right now

I don’t know if this is right for me

I’ll do it later

I don’t have enough information

I’ll try it on my own first

If we really want healing in our lives, we have to address the fears and once we do, a whole new world opens us for us.

Addressing our fears is a simple process, but it’s not an easy one. Basically, I’m asking you to stop running and really face up to what’s happening inside of you. As mentioned earlier, running comes in many forms: TV, food, social media, alcohol, sex, work, etc. If you overindulge in any of these, you may be running from something.

It’s time to stop running.

It’s time to face whatever is in your head and in your body and stay present in the moment no matter how uncomfortable it gets.

That’s what a great breakthrough session does. It gets people to face up to what they’re most afraid of and to deal with it in a positive, healthy way. But, that’s where many coaches fail their clients. They aren’t willing to take their clients into the deep end of the pool. Instead they tread water in the shallow end of the pool and as a result, lasting change doesn’t happen.

You don’t have to worry about that with me. I don’t believe in skirting the deeper issues because it is those deeper issues that are keeping you stuck.

So yes, keep thinking positive. It does work. In addition, contact me for a breakthrough session to really get to the bottom of your problem so you can move forward.